Tuesday, 01 June 2010 13:18
KUCHING – The last of the villagers in the way of the Bakun hydroelectric dam project have decided to move out.
The 35 families have agreed to be resettled, with the state promising to compensate them and provide new farmland for cultivation.
They would move to “higher grounds’’ above the dam site, said State Land Development Minister Dr James Masing, adding that they would have to relocate by this year "or they would be drowned" when the dam reservoir in the upper Rejang River basin is flooded.
Mass movement
Dr Masing, chairman of the Bakun resettlement committee, before it was disbanded after more than 10,000 villagers were relocated to Sungai Asap resettlement scheme about a decade ago, said in The Star report that the government would compensate the 35 families if they had land and crops in the dam area.
Sarawak Hiro Sdn Bhd, which owns the 2,400MW dam, has sought the approval of the state to flood the reservoir, which was originally slated for last November.
It had said that the impounding was expected to take eight months for the water level at the reservoir to reach the minimum operating level for tests of the turbine to be carried out.
Reservoir the size of Singapore
Once impounded, the reservoir, spanning over Batang Balui, Sungai Murum, Sungai Bahau, Sungai Pelepeh and Sungai Lanau, will have a surface area of 695km - about the size of Singapore - when the water level reaches the maximium operating level at 228m, giving a depth of 194m.
The dam is now expected to generate power sometime next year instead of late this year as earlier planned.
The Bakun dam will supply power for use of the energy-intensive industries, like aluminium smelters, to be set up in the Samalaju Industrial Park in Bintulu.
Source:http://www.malaysianmirror.com/sabahsarawakdetail/12-sabahsarawak/41556-last-of-bakun-villagers-moving-out
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